The Up and Down - November 2023
General Manager's Update
What a wild ride 2023 has been! Hard to believe November is here and we're just a few short months away from turning the page to 2024. I'd like to take a quick moment to recognize OGAGC Superintendent Dan Imes for receiving the Superintendent of the Year Award! Dan was recognized at the OGA Annual Meeting held Monday, October 23rd at Illahe Hills Country Club. Dan has led our Grounds Maintenance Team for many years and has been crucial to the sucess and long term stability of the golf course. His contributions in 2023 have been greatly appreciated and he has certainly a deserving recipient of this award. Congratulations, Dan!
As many of you have probably noticed, we began replacement of our full irrigation system back in Early October. As I have been saying all along, this project will be short-term pain for long-term gain. We are approaching our 30 year anniversary and the existing system was in desperate need of an upgrade. We are hopeful that this project will be completed before Spring of 2024 and the golf course will be back to normal in no time! We apologize for this inconvenience during the months ahead as we know it is a bit disruptive. We look forward to better days ahead this Spring!
Looking ahead in November, we have Veterans Day coming up soon. As we have done in years past, we will once again be offering $0 Green Fees for all Veterans on Friday, November 10th, 2023. Please call the Golf Shop at 503-981-4653 to book your tee time! Limit of (1) 18-Hole Round per person. We would like to thank all Veterans for your service and commitment to our country! Also coming up is our first ever BINGO NIGHT at Orchards Grill!
Thank you again to all who have visited us this summer. 2024 is going to be a great year with lots to be excited about! A brand new irrigation system, new golf carts, new programs and offerings, and lots of change at OGA! We thank you for your patronage and look forward to what is coming in the near future!
Ryan Garry
General Manager
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Director of Player & Business Development Update
November is upon us and sure did it come quickly! Day lights savings time is coming, the days are short, and the weather is less than ideal for golf. The goal for this off season is to not let all that hard work this summer go to waste! Here are a few ideas to stay engaged this off season.
- Set a series of goals for the next golfing season. Make sure they are specific and realistic.
- Improve our fitness. It’s a great time to improve our fitness and mobility.
- Begin to master our fundamentals. Grip, stance, set up, ball position.
- Begin to practice our in-swing fundamentals in the garage or in the mirror. There is a lot of improvement that can happen without hitting a golf ball. Sign up for the winter lesson series to help design and implement a winter lesson plan to help your game next year!
- Learn the rules of golf. Maybe you are a competitive junior, high school, collegiate player, or maybe you play in your local club tournaments. It is always a good idea to learn and know the rules of golf so you can use them to your advantage. Did you know there are 24 rules of golf broken down into 9 different sections? Each rule is broken down into different sub sections. I know this can sound like a lot of rules and it is. But understanding how you can legally use the rules to your advantage could shave a few shots off your score. If you don’t know where to begin, start with the definitions. Read through a few rules each day. Use the USGA rules of golf website to help. They have some great resources on their website to help you interpret the rules of golf. They also have some fun rules quizzes!
This off season we have installed some hitting nets under Orchards Grill Patio to keep us out of the wind and the rain! Let’s book some lessons to keep improving this off season.
Now is the perfect time to start thinking about and planning your next charity fundraiser events and company outings. Planning an event can be difficult! We’re here to help make the process easy on you. From the moment you begin coordination of your golf outing until the final trophy is handed out and the last guest departs, our event staff is here to serve you. Please reach out to me or fill out an outing information request form.
Some other exciting news to share! I am partnering with Burn Fitness in Woodburn to create a comprehensive golf training program! This program is designed to improve the whole body with TPI Screenings, Inbody scan, personal training, and golf lessons. For those that are serious about taking their game to the next level, please reach out to me to get more information. Space in this program will be limited.
Tyler Dube
Director of Player & Business Development
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Golf Shop Manager's Update
Superintendent's Update
Fall is in the air and the leaves and rain continue to come down. We will be cleaning up leaves every day after our course set up is done. The turf is still growing with these mild temps. So, we are trying our best to mow as often as we can.
Our staff has moved on to part-time now, so there will be fewer of us every day except Fridays. We will continue to get as much done as time will allow us. We have a long list of things to do and hope to accomplish them in the upcoming months.
It looks like the frost has begun to move in, so be patient as we protect the turf from damage. Here is a reminder about frost and winter turf conditions...
Frost: Frost on the grass blades tells us that the water inside the leaves is frozen. Frost itself does not cause damage, but injury does occur when traffic occurs on frosted areas. Water is the primary component of plant tissue. Turfgrass plant blades consist of 90 percent water. When this water is frozen, traffic on the turf causes the ice crystals in the cells to puncture through the cell walls, killing the plant tissue. Little damage is done to the crowns (growing points) or roots if only a light frost appears; however, when the frost is heavy, cell disruption may occur at the crown, thus killing the entire plant. If no damage occurs to the crown, recovery will occur from the generation of new leaves.
Frozen turf: Another dangerous situation exists when the soil is completely frozen to the surface, but the grass blades have thawed. Provided there is no frost or ice on the grass under this condition, then limited foot traffic creates little damage, if any. At these times, heavy traffic or golf carts should be restricted. This is the most favorable winter condition, because when the soil is frozen it does not allow as much penetration of compaction and spikes, thus preventing damage to the grass roots. Since the blades are not frozen, they retain the resiliency needed to withstand light foot traffic.
Frozen turf that begins thawing: Traffic damage on frozen turf areas usually occurs during periods of freezing or thawing. The most devastating situation occurs when the grass blades and the upper one-half to one inch of soil have thawed, but the ground beneath their level remains frozen. Traffic will create a shearing action of the roots, and crown tissues at this time. This is comparable to cutting the plant tissue from the underlying root system with a sod cutter.
Once temperatures allow thawing to a depth of three to four inches, the probability of turf damage declines since more than 75 percent of the root system is in the upper four inches of soil.
Happy Turkey Month!
Gobble, Gobble!
Dan Imes
Golf Course Superintendent
Food & Beverage Manager's Update
We would love to host your Holiday Party this winter! Please call us at 503-981-4653 to discuss what options we have available for you!
Orchards Grill is currently open daily 11am-5pm.
We will be switching to winter hours shortly with the grill being open daily thru the winter from 11am-4pm.
Current lunch menu can be found here on our website: https://www.ogagolfcourse.com/orchards-grill/about-orchards-grill
Current draft beer selections:
· Modelo
· Blue Moon
· Deschutes Mirror Pond Pale Ale
· Rogue Dead Guy
· Sierra Nevada Hazy Little Thing IPA
· Deschutes Fresh Squeezed IPA
Here is our current seasonal cocktail menu:
The conference room is available to book all winter long. With the grill right around the corner, lunch can be brought in to the conference room at your convenience. Call 503-981-4653 ext 5 if you would like to reserve a day and time for your meeting.
Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween and has a Happy Thanksgiving!
Alex Jeli
Food and Beverage Manager
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